It's week 5 of our Friday Pie Day series and so far we have focused mostly on fruit. It's time to explore pie's darker side with chocolate! Chocolate pies are usually single-crust, so they're easier than the typical fruit pie, too. Chocolate pies can be made with traditional dough crusts, or you can double the chocolate taste with a chocolate wafer crust. Purists love a pie using only decadent chocolate as the main ingredient, but if you like playing matchmaker with chocolate, you can also incorporate compatible ingredients like nuts, coffee, or berries. Make your weekend extra special with one of these chocolate pies.

Naked, topped with whipped cream, or paired with chocolate, sweet-tart raspberries are possibly the most elegant berry of the season. Now at their peak of ripeness, these berries boast a bright acidity that enhances everything from luscious pies to refreshing popsicles. Here are 10 beautiful raspberry desserts that will brighten up your summer.

Once I've polished off my favorite pickles from my local farmers' market, I'm always left with big and beautiful (but empty) glass mason jars. I've been collecting them in my kitchen cabinet all summer. Finally, I know how I'll use them thanks to our partners at Epicurious' Community Table.

Hot on the the heels of news that over in China, fast food weddings are trending -- a nuptials package a McDonald's ranges from about $373 to $1,300 (the luxe package) -- Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb got to talking. And Kathie Lee thinks she knows where she and her hubby Frank Gifford would tie the knot -- if they had to do it in a pinch.

"If it were me, I know Frank would go to KFC, and he might get married, 'cause he's about due for the next one," Kathie Lee told the New York Daily News. "Seriously, he loves Kentucky Fried Chicken. But he'll look at me after we've had a big lunch, and we don't usually eat dinner, and he'll go, 'You want a Big Mac?' And we share one. So maybe McDonald's."

American noodle manufacturer Sun Noodle supplies noodles (uh, sorry, I just wrote "noodles" three times in one sentence -- doh, four!) to some of the top ramen restaurants in the country -- and if you've ever wondered how ramen is made, you'll want to take a look at this behind-the-scenes video filmed by the Potluck folks at Sun's New Jersey HQ. Yum.

Today's the day! The winners of this year's Healthy Lunchtime Challenge -- one from every state in the union, plus Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam -- will gather at the White House for the Kids' State Dinner. You can watch the livestream right here starting at 11 a.m. ET!

Happy 50th birthday Wendy Williams! Today, the talk-show-hostess-with-the-mostest celebrates turning half-a-century young with special performances by artists including Lil John and Chaka Khan, having a street in her hometown renamed in her honor, and -- wait for it -- the unveiling of a life-size birthday cake created by the Cake Boss in her image. Or, well, kind of in her image.

Our restaurant editor Matt Duckor has hit the road and will be filing regular dispatches. Today, a few thoughts from London.

[Photo: Matt Duckor]

Every time I travel (especially abroad), one of my biggest challenges is relinquishing an essential food habit: hitting up my local New York bodega for my beloved morning breakfast sandwich.

It doesn't really matter what I've had the night before, how the weather feels outside, or whether the planets are in alignment on my astrological chart--a bacon, egg, and cheese craving always strikes when the sun rises.

But what happens when you leave the land of 24-hour bodegas and corner delis?

Turns out, you can find something even better in London (or at least more posh). Like the concept of divinity, it seems every culture has its version of the breakfast sandwich.

The latest issue of Cherry Bombe features a 10-page spread showcasing the ultimate Persian feast -- created and served up in the home of Epicurious' Editor-in-Chief Nilou Motamed.

Born in Tehran, Motamed and her family fled Iran during the revolution in the late 1970s. They landed in Paris in 1979. "I was so young," she tells Cherry Bombe. "I remember thinking I would never taste my family's home cooking again. It was a tumultuous time. We were devastated. There were a lot of tears."

These days, nothing reminds Motamed of her homeland more than a gorgeous Persian feast.

"When you are exiled from your home, food is often the only thing you have to keep you connected," she told the magazine. So she and her husband, travel writer Peter Jon Lindberg, host weekly dinner parties in their Brooklyn home. "It's grounding to entertain, so Peter and I have made a priority of hosting weekly dinner parties or long Sunday lunches."

This infomercial parody is not Weird Al's first food-centric video (see My Bologna and Eat It) but it holds a special place in our hearts. He spoofs Lorde's "Royals" by singing the praises of foil -- and then, true to form, it just gets weird. What's your favorite Weird Al video?